280 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES, 



thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered 

 work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate." * 



That purple and scarlet were only used by 

 sovereigns and rulers, we learn by the words 

 of Belshazzar king of Babylon, when he ad- 

 dressed the prophet Daniel. " If thou canst 

 read the writing, and make known to me the 

 interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed 

 with scarlet (or purple), and have a chain of 

 gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third 

 ruler in the kingdom-f." Again we read in 

 the tenth chapter of the 1st book of Macca- 

 bees, that when Jonathan's accusers saw that 

 he was honoured and clothed in purple, they 

 fled all away." 



The soldiers, when they mocked Christ, 

 put on him a purple robe. 



" I find in the ancient chronicles," says 

 Pliny X, " that purple has been worn in Rome 

 from its first foundation. However," says this 

 author, " king Romulus only wore it in his 

 royal garment, or mantle of majesty. Tullus 

 Hostilius was the first Roman king who put 

 on the long purple robe, and the cassock 

 bordered with scarlet." Cornelius Nepos 



* Chap, xxvii. 16. t f Chap. v. v. 16. 



J Book ix. 39. 



